Swizzle Stick

All of the Above

April 30 — Multiple Choice(s )— create a poem that is somehow like a multiple choice test, OR turn this into another “free day” for our last day of April and write any poem of your choice, OR write multiple, short, linked poems…like the sidewalk poems!



Your distant artist friend
has a local show:
d'art boards
but you are tired
Do you go?

a) you go girl
b) go to bed instead
c) just think about it

Going to a local art show
in a famous mid-century
modern house.You wear

a) what you're wearing
b MCM vintage
c) who cares?

You are greeted
a) with warm recognition
b) with fine American social skill
c) with red wine or white
d) all of the above

The house
a) is a time warp, with your childhood curtains
b) is welcoming, stories of decades
c) is a Beachcomber far from the sea
d) all of the above

The artist
a) greets you warmly, remembers your first conversation
b) is happily almost aggressively grateful that you are there
c) refers to you obliquely in his artist's speech
d) all of the above

You buy
a) a paisley Guru Adrian
b) a Keith Haring collaboration, Nobody
c) a D'art Board
d) you wish you could buy all of the above

Your partner & friend
a) enjoys the owner holding court about the house
b) appreciates the artist & his work
c) we had such a great afternoon
d) talked with the artist about galleries
e) made you feel happy & proud
f) all of the above

You liked
a) the gorgeous mid-century house
b) the Eames era chairs & fittings
c) the brown-beige-white net curtains from childhood
d) the valley view from the veranda
e) the sense of your childhood home
e) the art on the walls
f) the artist's talk, about art's purpose, value, meaning, history
g) all of the above

you go girl
in what you're wearing
greeted with warm recognition
with fine American social skill
with red wine or white
the house is a time warp
with your childhood curtains,
welcoming, stories of decades
a beachcomber far from the sea
the artist greets you
warmly, remembers your first
conversation,is happily
almost aggressively
grateful that you are there,
refers to you obliquely
in his artist's speech
you buy a paisley Guru Adrian
your partner is all of the above
& you like
all of the above




Thank you Katya, as always, it has been a joy - & thank you to everyone reading x